Prez Murmu should inaugurate new Parliament, not PM: Rahul

New Delhi, May 21: With the inauguration of Parliament building just a week away, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said that President Droupadi Murmu should inaugurate the new Parliament House instead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"The President should inaugurate the new Parliament House and not the Prime Minister," Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet.

The New Parliament House inauguration event is scheduled on May 28.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the new Parliament building on 28th May 2023, which is also the 140th birth anniversary of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, the great son of India," BJP IT cell in-charge Amit Malviya tweeted.

"Veer Savarkar was born on 28th May 1883 in Bhagur. The new Parliament is designed to last at least 150 years. The current premises has been in existence for 100 years now," he said.

PM Modi will be inaugurating the new Parliament building -- a triangular-shaped four-storey building with a built-up area of 64,500 square metres.

The Congress has called the new Parliament building as Modi's vanity project.

Earlier, Congress General secretary Jairam Ramesh also took a swipe at the government and said, "A complete insult to all our Founding Fathers and Mothers. A total rejection of Gandhi, Nehru, Patel, Bose, et al. A blatant repudiation of Dr. Ambedkar."

Ramesh also slammed the Prime Minister two days ago and said, "The sole architect, designer and worker for the new Parliament building, which he will inaugurate on May 28th. The picture tells it all - personal vanity project."

The triangular shaped building's construction started on January 15, 2021 and was to be completed by August 2022.

Built in an area of 64,500 square metres, the new building will house 1,224 MPs and is a four-storey structure. It has a library, multiple committee rooms and dining rooms. Tata Projects has constructed the building at an estimated cost of Rs 970 crore.